Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello is considering starting Ronaldo for the first time this season Sunday in a Spanish league match.

Capello said he will decide whether to pick the 30-year-old Brazil striker on the day of the home game against Celta Vigo.

``He is improving every day in training and regaining an acceptable physical condition,'' Capello told Madrid's website on Saturday. ``He's not at his best, he needs to lose a little weight, but he seems pretty good.''

Capello said Ronaldo had already shed a lot of weight.

``But he still has a bit to go to get back to being the player the world knows,'' the Italian coach said. ``If he isn't physically fit I won't play him. He can score lots of goals and he needs time. He will play matches, but he needs to be fit.''

On Friday, Ronaldo told newspaper ABC that he was being denied his greatest pleasure _ ``playing soccer.''

``Capello doesn't have faith in me at the moment. If he did, he would have played me more,'' Ronaldo said.

The three-time FIFA World Player of the Year has started only one game since September after having recovered from knee surgery. It came in last month's Copa del Rey draw against third-division Ecija, when Capello picked what was effectively a reserve team.

Ronaldo's other appearances this season have come as a substitute, including when he replaced Ruud van Nistelrooy and played 20 minutes in Wednesday's Champions League win over Steaua Bucharest.

In last week's victory at Gimnastic Tarragona, Ronaldo and teammate Antonio Cassano were ordered by Capello to warm up on the touchline for nearly all of the second half.

Neither player appeared in the game, leading Cassano to criticize Capello for which he was suspended by Madrid two days later.

Madrid is third in the league with 16 points, two behind leader FC Barcelona.